Departmental Honors
Every year we nominate a portion of the junior class to pursue Chemical Engineering Departmental Honors. Completion of Departmental Honors will lead to a notation on the transcript and diploma. Degrees will be granted “With Honors in Chemical Engineering”
In order to earn departmental honors, invited students students must:
- complete nine credits of CHEM E 499B, honors-level research, under the direction of a chemical engineering professor – the nine credits of research must be completed under a single chemical engineering professor and span three consecutive quarters. Honors-level research work is distinguished by its originality and demonstrates the ability to carry out independent, high-quality, creative work, as judged by the research supervisor (i.e. honors research is much more than simply “working in a lab” and having a high GPA).
- Maintain minimum 3.3 cumulative UW and core chemical engineering GPAs in order to continue in and graduate with Departmental Honors.
Examples of typical outcomes of honors-level research include: giving an oral presentation at a professional or academic conference (regional AIChE or the UW Undergraduate Research Symposium, for example); a significant written contribution to a peer-reviewed journal article, writing an honors thesis, or similar. At the completion of the research project we will check with the research supervisor to ensure that all requirements (credits/GPA, as well as quality of work) have been met before the final awarding of honors.
Interdisciplinary and College Honors
There are three options for pursuing an Honors designation at the University of Washington, departmental honors, interdisciplinary honors, and college honors.
Interdisciplinary Honors students are asked to think intentionally about education, knowledge, and interdisciplinarity. They take a majority of their UW general education requirements in Honors-specific courses, complete experiential learning requirements, and maintain a portfolio throughout their participation in this curriculum.
Students who complete both Chemical Engineering Departmental Honors and Interdisciplinary Honors earn the distinction of College Honors. To learn more, visit the UW Honors Program. For more about the UW Honors Program & Pathways, click below.